Special Subjects Relating to the Proposed Programme Budget for 2023

A/RES/77/263 BView PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 138 Proposed programme budget for 2023, published in 2023.

What else is in this group?

10 documents · 2020–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/243	Special subjects relating to the proposed programme budget for 2026	9,248	–
2024	A/RES/79/258 A	Special subjects relating to the proposed programme budget for 2025	—	–
2023	A/RES/78/253	Special subjects relating to the proposed programme budget for 2024	10,861	–
2023	A/RES/77/263 B	Special subjects relating to the proposed programme budget for 2023	—	–
2023	A/RES/77/263 A	Special subjects relating to the proposed programme budget for 2023	—	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2024

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2024	A/79/628	Standards of accommodation for air travel report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/77/263 B

What subjects does this mandate have?

11 subjects

Administrative Reform Air Travel Costs Financial Implications Management Information Systems Pension Schemes Pensionable Remuneration Programme Budgeting Salaries and Allowances Staffing Travel Costs

What’s in this document?

25 operative paragraphs

B¹

¹Resolution 77/263, in section VI of the Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-seventh Session, Supplement No. 49 (A/77/49), vol. I, becomes resolution 77/263 A.

I.Standards of accommodation for air travel

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions;

Reaffirms that the International Civil Service Commission shall establish, inter alia, standards of travel under article 11 (b) of its statute;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to limit the use of exceptions, to strengthen internal controls in this regard, and to encourage eminent and prominent persons to voluntarily downgrade from their entitled class;

Also requests the Secretary-General to make additional efforts to encourage all individuals who qualify for first-class or business class United Nations-funded air travel to voluntarily downgrade from their entitled class, where possible and to report thereon in his next report on standards of accommodation for air travel;

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to hold managers accountable for the judicious use of travel resources, in particular by increasingly encouraging the use of alternative methods of communication and representation and by giving primary consideration to authorizing official travel only where direct face-to-face contact is necessary for mandate implementation;

Recalls paragraph 20 of the report of the Advisory Committee, and further requests the Secretary-General to provide detailed disaggregated statistical information on reasons for non-compliance with the advance purchase policy;

Reiterates its serious concern at the low compliance with the advance purchase policy directive in all travel categories, and requests the Secretary-General to take more effective measures to improve the situation in order to reduce air travel costs, given that most official travel is not carried out for the purpose of emergency situations or unforeseen requirements, and to provide information on these measures in his next report;

Decides that compliance with the advance purchase policy for travel is a prerequisite to undertaking any travel above economy class for all staff below the level of Assistant Secretary-General (and eligible family members), with exceptions made for delayed travel documents, when appropriate;

Notes with concern that the current provider for air travel management services at Headquarters has been in place since 2005, underlines that the contract for the current provider for air travel management services at Headquarters will expire in October 2023, and requests the Secretary-General to take measures to ensure that the existing process of booking of air tickets through the contracted travel agency is cost-effective;

Reiterates its request to the Secretary-General to ensure that the procurement process for all air travel management services contracts is conducted in full compliance with general procurement principles as set out in financial regulation 5.12, namely, (a) best value for money; (b) fairness, integrity and transparency; (c) effective international competition; and (d) the interest of the United Nations,⁴ and to ensure that the procurement process includes the option of awarding a contract to multiple vendors to allow for greater competition among selected vendors;

⁴See ST/SGB/2013/4.

Decides that the President of the International Court of Justice and the President of the General Assembly shall not be entitled to first-class accommodation for air travel, and invites the Secretary-General to voluntarily downgrade from his entitled class;

Emphasizes that the use of a single threshold, as proposed by the Secretary-General, may result in increased adherence to the advance purchase policy and reduced travel agency costs, looks forward to additional information to be provided in the next report in favour of this proposal, and decides to consider approving a single threshold at the seventy-ninth session;

Requests the Secretary-General to review the lump-sum option for home leave and to propose, as the basis for lump-sum calculation, an amount equal to actually incurred costs for home leave, including options based on the most restrictive economy fare, in accordance with the staff regulations and rules;

Recalls the Rules Governing Payment of Travel Expenses and Subsistence Allowances in respect of Members of Organs or Subsidiary Organs of the United Nations,⁵ and requests the Secretary-General to continue to abide by those rules when providing travel to delegations of least developed countries;

⁵ST/SGB/107/Rev.6.

Decides that the changes set out in the present resolution shall not affect the current standards of accommodation for air travel and daily subsistence allowance of members of organs and/or subsidiary organs, committees, councils and commissions of the United Nations, including standards applicable to delegations of least developed countries;

Recalls paragraph 26 of the report of the Advisory Committee, notes that a transition to a single threshold for business class may expand the use of online booking tools, and requests the Secretary-General to review the use of these tools and to report thereon at the first part of its resumed seventy-ninth session;

II.Enterprise resource planning project, Umoja

Recalling section II of its resolution 60/283 of 7 July 2006, section II of its resolution 63/262 of 24 December 2008, its resolution 64/243 of 24 December 2009, section II.A of its resolution 65/259 of 24 December 2010, its resolution 66/246 of 24 December 2011, section III of its resolution 66/263 of 21 June 2012, section III of its resolution 67/246 of 24 December 2012, its resolution 68/246 of 27 December 2013, sections IV and VI of its resolution 69/274 A of 2 April 2015, section XVII of its resolution 70/248 A of 23 December 2015, section XIV of its resolution 71/272 A of 23 December 2016, section XXI of its resolution 72/262 A of 24 December 2017, section XVII of its resolution 73/279 A of 22 December 2018, section XVII of its resolution 74/263 of 27 December 2019, section V of its resolution 75/253 A of 31 December 2020, section VI of its resolution 76/246 A of 24 December 2021 and its decision 77/548 of 30 December 2022,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the progress on the functioning and development of the Umoja system,⁶ the note by the Secretary-General transmitting the eleventh and final annual progress report of the Board of Auditors on the implementation of the United Nations enterprise resource planning system⁷ and the related report of the Advisory Committee,⁸

⁶A/77/495.

⁷A/77/135.

⁸A/77/7/Add.21.

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General and the note by the Secretary-General;

Also takes note of the findings of the report of the Board of Auditors, and endorses the recommendations contained therein;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee;

III.Conditions of service and compensation for officials other than Secretariat officials: members of the International Court of Justice and President and judges of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

Recalling its resolutions 37/240 of 21 December 1982, 40/257 A to C of 18 December 1985, 45/250 A to C of 21 December 1990 and 48/252 A to C of 26 May 1994, section VIII of its resolution 53/214 of 18 December 1998, its resolutions 55/249 of 12 April 2001, 56/285 of 27 June 2002, 57/289 of 20 December 2002 and 58/264 of 23 December 2003, section III of its resolution 59/282 of 13 April 2005, its resolutions 61/262 of 4 April 2007, 63/259 of 24 December 2008, 64/261 of 29 March 2010 and 65/258 of 24 December 2010, section VI of its resolution 71/272 A of 23 December 2016 and section II of its resolution 75/253 B of 16 April 2021 and its decision 77/548 of 30 December 2022,

Recalling also Article 32 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice, as well as relevant resolutions of the General Assembly that govern the conditions of service and compensation for the members of the International Court of Justice and for the President and judges of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on conditions of service and compensation for officials other than Secretariat officials: members of the International Court of Justice and President and judges of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals⁹ and the related report of the Advisory Committee,¹⁰

⁹A/77/346.

¹⁰A/77/7/Add.7.

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Endorses the conclusions and recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee, subject to the provisions of the present resolution;

Takes note of paragraph 23 of the report of the Advisory Committee, welcomes that the Secretary-General has provided background information and options, and decides to maintain the current pension scheme of the judges;

Requests the Chair of the Fifth Committee to solicit a formal legal opinion from the Office of Legal Affairs of the Secretariat by the main part of its seventy-eighth session, containing an assessment of legal impediments, if any, to the introduction of changes to the pension scheme for judges of the International Court of Justice and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, in particular changes that will result in judges having different pension schemes while serving on the Court, and changes that lower the level of pension benefits for new judges, including through a legal assessment of the Statute of the International Court of Justice and the Statute of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals;

Invites the Sixth Committee to consider the legal aspects of this assessment and to consider providing advice on this assessment for further discussion by the Fifth Committee, taking into consideration the submitted report of the Secretary-General.¹¹

¹¹A/77/346.